Door-operating gear for coal or coke cars.



No. 726,541. PATENTED APR. 28, 1903.

W. P. KIBSEL, JR. DOOR OPERATING GEAR FOR GOAL OR OOKE CARS.

APPLICATION FILED D30. 27, 1902.

N0 MODEL. 3 $HEETSTSHBET l.

WITNESSES: IN VENTOR wmmgmilgm PATENTED APR. 28, 1903;

w. F. KIESEL, JR. DOOR OPERATING GEAR FOR GOAL 0R COKE CARS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 27, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

3 BHBET8-SHEET 2.

| N VENTOR ATTORN EY PATENTED APR. 28, 1908. W. P. KIESBL, J11. ERA TINGGEAR FOR GOAL 0R COKE CARS:

2" A-BLIUATION FILED DEC. 27, 1902.

a SHBETSL-SHEET a.

N0 MODEL WITNESSES: olw; 49 hp 5 M ft.

INVENTOR ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PAT NT] FFItCiE WILLIAM F. KIESEL, JR., OF ALTOONA,PENNSYLVANIA.

DOOR-OPERATING GEAR FOR COAL OR COKE CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 726,541, dated. April28, 1903.

Application filed December 27, 1902. Serial No. 136,856- (No model.)

Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Im' proved Door-Operating Gear forCoal or Coke Cars, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the mechanisms by which thedoors which close the openings from the dumping-chutes in coal and cokecars are opened and closed, and is applicable more particularly to carshaving side delivery-chutes and constructed in the manner described byme in my copending application filed of even date herewith forimprovements in steel car construction.

The object of my improvements is to provide mechanism whereby the doorson one side or the other, or on both sides, will be simultaneouslyclosed or opened by means of an operating-shaft and capstan operatedfrom one end of the car and whereby they will be held securely locked intheir opened or closed positions.

I attain my object by means of the construction and arrangement of theseveral parts of the operatingear, as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which-- Figure 1 shows a side elevation of a car, partly inmid-section, with my door-operatin g gear applied thereto; Fig. 2, atransverse sec tion of the lower portion of the car on the line 2 2 inFig. 1; Fig. 3, asimilar section on the line 3 3 in Fig. 1; Fig. 4, adetail showing an end View of the capstan and operatingshaft; Fig. 5, adetail showing one of the end doors with its operating toggle-arm andconnecting-link; Fig. 6, a detail showing the same in full-openposition, and Fig. 7 a modification showing the gear arranged foroperating the doors upon one side or the other separately.

Like letters of reference designate like parts in the severalviews.

inclined chutes is indicated more clearly in Figs. 2 and 3, where Lindicates the bottom plate of the chutes. In order to hold these doorsclosed against the weight of the con tents of the car, it is evidentthat a strong and efficient closing mechanism must be employed, both tooperate the doors and to hold them locked in closed position. This isaccomplished in my gear when the doors on both sides are to be opened orclosed simultaneously by means of the single operatingshaft 0, which iscentrally located under= neath the body of the car, said shaft passingon an incline from the capstan-head D at one end of the car to thechain-worm F, situated in line with the first pair of combined sheavesand toggle-arms G and H, by which the toggle-shafts K for opening andclosing the doors on each side are operated. The shaft 0 passes downfrom the capstan be tween the center sills U U of the car and issupported therebyin suitable hangers or brackets. Supported in suitablebrackets at the under side of the bottoms L of the chutes and passingalong the entire length of the chutes on each side are the toggle-shaftsK, which be tweenthe first and second chutes carry the combined sheavesand toggle-arms G and H. These sheaves areof segment shape with groovedperipheries to receive the operating chains or cables I and J, whichpass therefrom to the worm F, said chains being connected to theopposite endsof the worm and so applied thereto that one chain will bewound 0E from the worm as the other chain is being wound thereon whenthe shaft 0 is turned in one direction or the other. This arrangement ofthe sheaves and worm is shown in Fig. 2.

Between the two middle chutes are located the combined sheaves andtoggle-arms P- and Q, similar to the sheaves G and H, but placed inreversed position, these sheaves being connected the one to the other bythe chain R, as shown in Fig. 3. At' each side of these sheaves G and'HP and Q are coupledthe bent connecting-links M, the outer ends of whichare connected,by means of the adjustable eyes O, to pins or trunnions N,projecting from each side of the doors A. In the positions assumed bythese parts when the doors are closed it will be seen that the poll ICOon the links due to the outward pressure of the contents of the caragainst the doors, as transmitted to the sheaves, tends to rotate thesheaves in the opposite direction from that required to open the doors,since the pins by which links M are coupled to the sheaves lie below thelines passing through the centers of shafts K and pins N, and the linksresting upon the hubs of the sheaves as well as the chain connectionsoppose this reverse rotation. In order to open the doors, the sheavesmust be rotated so as to throw links M upwardly and outwardly. This willbe accomplished by turning the shaft from left to right, (see Fig. 2,)by which the chain I will be wound onto the Worm F, thereby giving aright-to-left rotation to sheave G. As the shaft K rotates it imparts asimilar motion to the sheave P,thereby winding chain R onto said sheaveand transmitting a leftto-right rotation to sheave Q,'by which motion isimparted to the shaft K on that side of the car, and the simultaneousopening of the doors on both sides of the car is thereby accomplished.Since the chain J is unwound from the worm F at the same time that thechain I is wound thereon, the required leftto-right rotation of sheave His permitted, as imparted thereto by the rotation of the shaft K on thatside of the car.

In order that the doors not adjacent to the sheaves may be operated bythe shafts K. I provide toggle-arms S at each end of the shafts, andalso between the third and fourth chutes, the end toggle-arms beingconnected to the doors by the straightlinks T, as shown in Fig. 5, andthe intermediate toggle-arms being connected to the doors by bent linksM, similar to those shown in Figs. 2 and 3. It will be seen from aninspection of Fig. 5 that the links T at the ends of the shafts dropslightly below the center of shafts K when the doors are closed, sincethe pins coupling the links to the arms S are caused to pass beyond theline passing through the centers of pins N and shafts K, as alreadystated with reference to the sheave connections. The pull on the linksT, therefore, is also in opposition to the opening movement of the armsS when the doors are closed.

By means of the adjustable eyes 0, which are screwed onto the ends ofthe connectinglinks, the lengths of these links are so adjusted as tobring them into the proper positions to insure the closing of the doorswhen the toggle 4 arms and sheaves are in their proper lockingpositions. The shaft 0 is locked when turned in the direction to closethe doors by means of the pawl E, which engages a ratchet-wheel formedupon the 'inside of the capstan-head D, and by reversing the pawl thedoors may be held at any desired degree of opening. The capstan-head isoperated by means of bars inserted in the sockets and manipulated fromthe end of the car. To open the doors, the pawl E must be thrown over toengage the opposite side of the ratchetwheel from the position shown inFig.4 and the capstan-head given a left-to-right rotation, whereby theconnecting-links M and T are thrown up and out, the ratchet holding thedoors from closing when thrown out from vertical position, while theoperating-bar is being moved from one socket of the capstan to the next.When the doors are fully open, the toggle-arms may be thrown aroundbeyond their dead-centers, in which event the ratchet one sideindependently of those on the other,

and to accomplish this two operating-shafts C C (see Fig. 7) will beused, the worms F of which will be connected on each side with thesheaves G and H, which latter will be circular in form and will havechains 1 and J running off and on from the Worms, so that as the shaftsor either of them are turned in one direction or the other the shafts Kand their toggle-arms will be correspondingly rotated. The sheaves P andQ in this modification will of course be dispensed with and simple armsS substituted in their place. In other respects the toggle-arms and linkcon nections will be the same. The shafts O C may both be run in fromone end of the car, indicated in Fig. '7, or they may be run in fromopposite ends, in which case the doors on one side will be operated by acapstanhead at one end of the car and the doors upon the other side by acapstan-head at the other end of the car.

By means of my mechanism, as above de scribed, it will be seen that thedoors of the chutes may be positively opened and held locked at anydegree of opening. It frequently occurs, especially with coke, that thecontents of a car will become arched or clogged over the chutes, so asnot to flow freely when the cars are dumped. If the doors be simplyunlatched, they will swing back and forth as more or less of thecontents of the car are broken out. With my arrangement, however, thedoors may be positively fixed at any desired degree of opening, and theflow from the chutes may be governed and controlled ac-' cordingly.

Having thus described my operating-gear, what I claim as my invention,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. In a car of the typedescribed, the combination, with the chutes and hinged doors, of a shaftpassing along beneath the chutes at each side of the car, toggle-arms onsaid shafts at each side of the doors, links coupling said arms to thesides of the doors, and

means for rotating the shafts simultaneously in either direction to openand close the doors.

2. In a car of the type described, the combination, with the chutesandhinged doors, of a shaft passing along beneath the chutes at eachside of the car, toggle-arms on said shafts at each side of the doors,links coupling said arms to trunnions projecting from the sides of thedoors, a central operatingshaft, a worm on said shaft in line with apair of oppositely-disposed sheaves on the side shafts, chains or cablespassing from the worm to said sheaves, one of said chains being run offthe worm as the other is wound thereon, by the rotation of theoperatingshaft in either direction, whereby motion is imparted to one orthe other of said shafts, a second pair of oppositely-disposed sheaveson the side shafts, a chain, or cable passing from one of said sheavesto the other, whereby motion in one of the side shafts is imparted tothe other, and means for turning the operating-shaft in eitherdirection.

3. In a car of the type described, the combination, with the chutes andhinged doors, of a system comprising a toggle-shaft with arms and linkscoupled to the sides of the doors from beneath the chutes, whereby allthe doors on a side may be simultaneously opened or closed, anoperating-shaft running in from the end of the car, connections betweensaid shaft and the toggle-shaft,whereby motion may be imparted theretoin either di rection, and a capstan-head on the operating-shaft at theend of the car by which to turn said shaft.

4. In a car of the type described, the combination, with the chutes andhinged doors, of a system comprising a toggle-shaft with arms and linkscoupled to the sides of the doors from beneath the chutes, whereby thedoors may be opened or closed, an operatingshaft, connections betweensaid shaft and the toggle-shaft, whereby motion may be impart ed theretoin either direction, means for turning said operating shaft, and a pawland ratchet applied to said shaft to control the opening or closing ofthe doors.

5. In a car of the type described, the com bination with the chutes andhinged doors, of a system comprising a toggle-shaft, togglearms on theshaft between the doors and at each end thereof, bent links coupling theintermediate toggle-arms to the doors at each side and straight linkscoupling the end arms to the end doors, the points of attachment of allsaid links to said arms being thrown past the line running through thecenter of the shaft and the points of attachment to the doors when thedoors are closed, and the points of attachment of the end links to theirarms being thrown past said line when the doors are fully opened, stopsto limit the throw of the end arms when the doors are opened, and meansfor operating the shaft in either direction.

6. The combination, in a door-operating mechanism, of a toggle-shaft, atoggle-arm on the shaft, a link coupling said arm to the door, a sheavealso on said shaft, a worm and operating-shaft, and connections betweenthe worm and sheave whereby the toggle-shaft may be turned in eitherdirection to open or close the door.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my sig nature in presence of twowitnesses.

WILLIAM F. KIESEL, J R. \Vitnesses:

R. M. SNYDER, E. M. J onus.

